Where's the best place to raise a family?
Working with the Roper Center for Public
Opinion Research, Reader's Digest polled
parents across the country about factors
affecting family life.

They told us their most important
requirements for a family-friendly area -- an
absence of crime, low rates of drug and
alcohol abuse, good public schools,
first-rate health care and a clean
environment. Then came an affordable cost
of living and strong economic growth.

What Do Parents Care About?

Reader's Digest asked parents to
rate 13 features of a good place
to raise a family. Here, on
average, is how parents rated them on
a scale of 1-10:

[Mean average of a "1-10" rating by
parents, 10 being "extremely important."]

These factors were weighted, based
on the importance that parents gave
them. Then they were stacked up
against statistical and demographic
portraits of 301 metropolitan areas, large
and small, throughout the country. Using
measurable, uniform indicators -- such as
FBI crime data, per-capita income growth
and EPA air-quality ratings -- we ranked
each area.

The metropolitan areas we compared are
the same standard geographical divisions
used for national statistical surveys. These
metro areas include city and suburban
neighborhoods and sometimes even
neighboring cities and towns. None is
without problems. But places that achieved
high overall scores in our survey are places
that can provide what parents want the
most for their families. The 50 "winners" are
listed on the third page of this feature.

The top cities may surprise you for their mix
of size, location and disparate ambiance.
Winners were scattered across the country
from coast to coast. Most of the top ten
were in the northern tier -- no "sunny
paradise" climates. Smaller is beautiful,
says the survey: six of the top ten places
have populations of less than 250,000. But
two major metropolitan areas, with
million-plus populations, also made the top
ten.

After analyzing the survey data, The Digest
sent an editorial team out to the top ten
metro areas to hear from local parents
themselves. We found that if any one thread
runs through the fabric of all these places,
large and small, it is the golden one called
"community" -- the concerned neighbors,
active churches and community groups that
stand behind safe streets, strong schools
and thriving towns.

What did we learn on our search for
the "best"? Family-friendly places
can be anywhere -- if people work at
it. The best places to raise a family are
those where people work with each other,
trust each other, count on each other. In
short, where families can and do shape
their own communities.

The Top Fifty

1. Sheboygan,WI
WWW Sheboygan Newsletter

2. Kenosha, WI
Kenosha Area Convention & Visitors Bureau

3. Fort Collins-Loveland, CO
Fort Collins Homepage

4. Bremerton, WA
Bremerton Area Chamber of Commerce

5. Pittsburgh, PA
Pittsburgh.Net

6. Burlington, VT
www.BURLINGTONVT.com

7. Charlottesville, VA
Charlottesville On-Line

8. Spokane, WA
Spokane Area Chamber of Commerce

9. Boston, MA
Boston.com

10. Hickory-Morganton, N.C

11. St. Cloud, MN
St. Cloud Area Chamber of Commerce

12. Provo-Orem, UT
PROFIT Magazine, published by the Provo/ Orem
Chamber of Commerce